


chicken and cake

by spacebutterfly



Category: Junjou Romantica
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 16:58:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5548238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebutterfly/pseuds/spacebutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas only came once a year, after all, so Miyagi figured it'd be nice to celebrate properly with Shinobu. But for some reason, the kid didn't seem as interested as he'd expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	chicken and cake

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas! What?! It's the 27th?! What???? Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas was a peculiar time of year. Come December you’d be hard pressed to find a store not decked out in festive decor or a cafe that isn’t blaring cheesy holiday music. And yet in all the furore it still generally managed to be an underwhelming event.

The fact that it was unofficially more of a couple’s holiday had always rubbed salt in the wound for Miyagi, and he’d always tried his damndest to block the whole thing out and act like it didn’t exist.

(Even when he’d been with Risako. ... _Especially_ when he’d been with Risako. Not that that had been her fault, exactly...)

But this year, wasn’t his situation...different? _Technically_ he didn’t have any reasons to feel depressed. _Technically_  he was no longer; a) grieving, b) part of a failing marriage, or c) miserably single. He had the kid. Romantic outings were no longer off the cards. Possibly. Maybe.

The question was how to convey this to Shinobu without being direct. Miyagi couldn’t do direct. Or at least not on the first try. Because...it was embarrassing.

“They’ve already started putting up Christmas decorations everywhere, huh?” said Miyagi conversationally that evening, over dinner. “Even the used book store I usually go to has put some tinsel up…” The kid grunted noncommittally, looking more interested in his food than the topic of conversation. “People sure don’t waste any time, huh! I almost feel a bit festive myself…!”

Shinobu flicked him a look of mild doubt, silently chewing his food. An outsider might think that the kid’s nonplussed responses were a sign of irritation. In truth, this was actually fairly _cheerful_ for him. Still, the conversation was a little more one-sided than Miyagi would have liked.

“Do you...did you celebrate Christmas much at home?” Miyagi asked in a would-be casual tone. It was a stupid question, but anything to get the conversation going.

“Not really,” said Shinobu shortly. “Except when I was a kid, I guess.”

“Ah...I see…” Miyagi said, trailing off awkwardly. After a few moments thought, he added,  “I was just wondering if there’s anything you want to...you know...do?” Miyagi continued. The kid blinked at him.

“...Like what?”

“Well...something...something nice?” said Miyagi, inwardly cursing himself as he felt his pulse involuntarily quicken. What was he so nervous about? What _was_ there to be nervous about? “Christmas is...it’s...you know...couples usually do things at Christmas, right?” Why wasn’t it Shinobu saying these things, not him? Wasn’t he usually the proactive one? And yet he seemed so uninterested still...

The kid looked a little suprised, but just shrugged, staring at his plate with an oddly distant expression.  “...I don’t really care about all that.”

“Right,” said Miyagi, feeling slightly taken aback. “Wouldn’t you like to go see an illumination or something together? There’ll probably be a lot of them around Christmas Eve-”

“It’d just be cold,” said Shinobu. Miyagi just looked at him.

“So...outdoor things are a no?”

The kid shrugged. Miyagi grit his teeth.

“Well, other than that...” Miyagi searched his mind for more Christmassy things. “We could...order a Christmas cake.”

“Why do people make such a big deal out of Christmas cake? It’s just cake...you can eat that any time of the year,” Shinobu said.

Biting back the urge to call Shinobu a miserable brat, Miyagi changed tack, if a little exasperatedly. “Is there anything about Christmas that you _do_ care about?”

Shinobu looked thoughtful for a moment, before answering with with a serious expression:

“Chicken.”

“...I should have known.”

“Anyway, I don’t care about all that superficial stuff,” said Shinobu dismissively. “Why are you so interested in Christmas all of a sudden?” he continued, brow furrowed. “I thought...well, I mean…” He trailed off, averting his gaze. Miyagi felt a twinge of nervousness.

“You thought what?” he asked.

“It’s just that...sis said you didn’t seem to _like_ Christmas much.”

Miyagi flinched. Well, of course she _would_ say that… “It’s not that I dislike it, exactly...more that I’ve never been in the position where I could come to like it…”

Shinobu looked confused for a moment, and Miyagi thought he’d end up misunderstanding as usual - until his expression softened. “You mean...because of…” Miyagi’s heart twinged at the kid’s somber expression.

“Anyway, you don’t have to worry about that!” said Miyagi hastily. He was more or less at the point where he could talk about his old teacher freely, so much so that now the topic seemed to actually upset _Shinobu_ more that it did him. “I mean, you know...I have you now.” Shinobu nodded slowly, but still looked concerned. God, that expression always tied Miyagi’s stomach in knots… “...So, I mean! What I’m saying is...you know, it’s our first proper Christmas together. Since you’ve moved in and everything…”

Finally understanding seemed to have dawned on the kid, whose cheeks were slightly pink. “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”

 _I did, didn’t I?_ Miyagi thought, but bit his tongue. “I mean, well...if you’re not interested, I won’t drag you all over the city to look at light up displays or whatever,” he said. “I mean...I suppose we don’t have to do anything in particular to make it special.”

The kid nodded, if a little sheepishly, and they went about the rest of the evening as usual. By the time the two of them got into bed together, Miyagi had almost entirely forgotten the conversation. But apparently the kid hadn’t.

“Miyagi...about what you were saying earlier…” Shinobu murmured, curled up in Miyagi’s arms.

“What about it?” Miyagi asked. He couldn’t see Shinobu’s expression in the darkness, but the long pause indicated hesitation. “I told you not to worry about it,” he said, in what he hoped was a light-hearted tone. “I just thought that maybe I don’t do these sorts of things enough, so…but if it’s not your thing, then-”

“Let’s go,” said Shinobu suddenly, and Miyagi flinched as he felt the kid’s fingers digging into his shoulders.

“What...you mean…?”

“Let’s go and see the lights,” said Shinobu, a layer of enthusiasm to his voice. “And eat cake...and…”

“I thought you didn’t care about any of that,” said Miyagi, bemused.

“I...I don’t!” the kid said, and Miyagi could feel his hackles rising. “But...I mean...if it’s with you, it could be fun, I guess…”

 _In other words, he really wants to do this, huh?_ Miyagi thought. He smiled as he tightened his arms around Shinobu, who made the tinest noise of surprise before hugging him back. “Good. I’m really happy.” Miyagi felt the kid burying his face in his chest, and the knots in his stomach unfurled themselves into a feeling of warmth.

“...But make sure you don’t eat too much cake, old man, or your stomach is gonna start sticking out even more.”

“Don’t even start with that!!”

**Author's Note:**

> I think everyone probably knows this by now because it's been in like every single article of Christmas facts I've seen this year, but a lot of people eat fried chicken at Christmas in Japan.
> 
> there's also Christmas cake, which is like normal sponge cake as far as I can tell
> 
> and then there's illuminations/light up shows(?) which are around a lot in the winter time. It's like...very romantic to go with your partner on Christmas Eve? Apparently?
> 
> I spent this Christmas in Japan and it kinda make me want to write a fic based on what these two would do at Christmas, but in the end I seem to have run out of time...so it ended up kind of short and not that Christmassy at all, but hey!! I wanted to upload something at least! Merry Christmas!


End file.
